Working 9-5?

by john on February 2, 2003

I hope Mark was able to stay unplugged all weekend. I certainly can relate to his situation. On Friday he wrote a couple of articles regarding his work schedule, which as he points out is really one continuous 24-hour cycle, with no clock.

This is the fate of many technology workers, most assuredly anyone who works any portion of their schedule at home. When my children were born I worked at home full time, which really did mean 24 hours a day. Within that period I would work on average I suppose 10 hours, which would often be at all odd times of day. It actually worked out quite well for me during that period of my life.

However I got into the habit of checking email at all hours, which I still do. I just responded to a couple tonight. With Outlook Web Access it’s just too easy to check in and I do – often. I am getting better – when I’m on vacation I’ll often read my email but rarely respond, waiting until I am “back.”

But it’s hard, and when your work and your hobbies put you in front of a computer they will often mix.

I wouldn’t go back to restaurant work for anything, but looking back I do miss the days where the biggest after-work issue was remembering too late that you forgot to give someone that side of peanut butter they asked for.